Credit card rewards can really pay off

I use a Mosaik MasterCard as my primary credit card. The Mosaik card is a "modular" product: you apply for the basic credit card, and you then select a card design and add features (like a rewards plan) à la carte. For my card, I have selected the "Gold" Air Miles reward plan, which gives me one Air Mile for every $15 that I spend on the card. Air Miles are redeemable for a wide variety of rewards, from travel purchases, to gift certificates, to electronics and kitchen gadgets. One Air Mile typically has a value of $0.12-$0.14, so with the Gold plan, this works out to the equivalent of about 0.9% cash back.

The rewards don't end there, however. With the Air Miles program, I also receive a free Air Miles collector card, which I present when I shop at Air Miles sponsors (including supermarkets, liquor stores, gas stations and several online merchants) to earn additional rewards. This earns me an additional Air Mile for every $20 that I spend at an Air Miles sponsor. By using my Air Miles MasterCard at an Air Miles sponsor, I'm actually "double-dipping" my rewards.

I was surprised to see how much these rewards actually add up. This year alone, I've redeemed Air Miles for the following rewards:

• $50 Chapters gift card


• $50 RONA gift card


• $300 in HBC gift cards


• $50 in Banana Republic gift cards

Obviously, Air Miles isn't the only reward program out there; there are several cards that offer cash back rewards. The point is that I've managed to use my rewards to purchase $350 in gifts ($150 of that for Christmas gifts), where I otherwise would have been out-of-pocket for this amount. If you're careful about how you use the card, and don't get caught up in the "I'm-getting-points-so-spend-spend-spend" mentality, then you can really make out like a bandit.